Good Vibrations

Ok so the title of this blog post is completely cosmic humanist but it seemed to fit my mood at the moment. You know the feeling of having a great weekend and when it's all over, it leaves you completely satisfied with life? Well that's me right now. I've had a wonderful time and the weekend isn't over! Let me recount to you of my adventures.

First was the party last night with Rachel and her group. That was quite interesting but fun. Not only was Rachel with me but my friends Leah, Jenn and Dustin were there as well, which made the experience so much more enjoyable (even if Dustin was mean to me). :) The rest of the group was awesome even though I didn't know them. And guess what the big game of the night was! You never will so I'll tell you. Duck-Duck-Goose! That's right. The game where you walk in a circle saying "Duck, duck, duck..." as you tap each person on the head and then slamming one person yelling "GOOSE!" and bolting away. It was probably the most epic game of Duck-Duck-Goose I've ever played in my entire life. Then Rachel and I stayed up until about 2:30 watching The Proposal and talking. Oh! And she got me orchids for Christmas! They're gorgeous and are now gracing my bedroom dresser.

I got home around 2 and was greeted to gingerbread cookies and a sick little sister. So I took a shower and holed up in my room for three hours until it was time to leave again for Jessica Green's house. Of course I was the last one there...... out of the five of us. All Kate, Jess and Stephanie came. We made Christmas candy and I'm now covered in powdered sugar. Then we ate pizza and watched the new Pride and Prejudice. In my opinion, the soundtrack is the only redeeming quality to the movie. I much prefer the six hour version with Colin Firth and his heart stopping smirks. Did I mention that we spent the entire movie piled on top of Jessica's couch? Yeah that was fun.

So here I am now. Thoroughly tired and thoroughly satisfied with my weekend. Tomorrow I'm going to church in the morning and I'm then going to be blissfully idle all afternoon. Maybe play some video games with Gavin or read Kate's book. We'll see where my whims lead me.

For now, goodnight dear reader and may you dream of butterflies and stardust.

Caution: Fun Times Ahead

Today has been fabulous so far, despite my having to study for Biology class! I'm pretty much done with that now though. *rejoices*

So, first, I got my coffee this morning. This puts the whole day in perspective. Life is better with caffeine. :) Second, I found out that my aunt and uncle from Texas will be arriving Monday afternoon, in time to come to See What I've Done Night!! They're staying for a few days and I'm really looking forward to it! Thirdly and lastly, I get to see my friend Rachel tonight whom I haven't seen in over six months! She invited me to a Christmas party and I'm staying with her overnight.

Tomorrow I'll be hanging out at home and then going to my youth group "Christmas Party". Ok so it's not really a Christmas party but one of the ladies at our church is having a get together at her house, just for the girls so it might as well be. We're going to make Christmas candy and just hang out. Then Sunday which is the usual go to church and hang with the fam. I'll probably be getting ready for SWIDN most of the day too. I still have to put together my costume for my skit. Don't tell my drama teacher on me. The one I had doesn't look like a Drill Sargent so I gotta go looking again.

So here's a Christmas song for you. One of my favorites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wz8HR8Fh0Y

Well there you have it folks. As you travel through your weekend, watch out for stampeding moose and falling cheese. Have a great day!

Snowflakes

This morning was cold, cloudy and windy when I woke up. During my devotions, the sun peeped through my window, lifting my spirits immensely! THEN as I was getting dressed and ready for the day, the wind picked up, clouds covered the sky again and snowflakes danced through the air! This is exactly what I needed! Of course, Tchaikovsky would capture the magic in one of his songs: Waltz of the Snowflakes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS_gumNLHhM

It's perfect!

Now everyone knows that each and every snowflake is different. There is not one that is the same as another. In the same way, God made us all different and special the way we are. No one in the whole world could replace us. So there's my object lesson for today. Have a wonderful day!

Insecure: adj. - subject to fears, doubts, etc.

That's what I am. Insecure. This morning my dad was sharing with my mom and I something that he read. As he says, "Family is the problem." The author of this book explains that as a person, we are our true selves when we are around our family. When our family condemns us and puts us down for showing our true selves (maybe unintentionally), that beats us down even more than when our piers do the same thing. This could explain many of our insecurities as adults. We feel we must be someone else because we believe not even our family accepts us for who we are.

This got me thinking. Who am I? How do I define myself? Taking a big step back and looking at my life, I find that I try too hard to fit into the group I'm hanging out with at the time. I've lost my identity to my parents, to my friends and to the world. I'm trying to be what they want me to be. Flirty, successful, passionate, sarcastic, outgoing, whatever the case may be. I'm done! I'm finished with it. I'm tired of having to change the way I act to mold with the group. And if people don't like the way I act, well they can either suck it up and deal with it or not be my friend. As of two hours ago, I'm on a quest. To find my identity in Christ Jesus. He's the only one who truly knows me, knows what I am and where I'm going.

This brings me to my second point. A new idea popped into my head this morning. Looking at college, I've been considering things that the world deems acceptable. Interior design and elementary education are all for self benefit. But what about going into the ministry? Church is the only thing I'm passionate about nowadays so why not consider being a youth leader instead of an interior designer? Since I have to wait to get married and have kids (my ultimate goal as you know) why not work in the church? Another something I'm going to have to pray about.

So there you go. My thoughts for today. Normally my morning devotions are comprised of ten minutes reading my bible and about fifteen minutes praying. This morning I skipped the reading and ended up praying (out loud by the way) and crying. What a lovely way to start the day. Not.

On a lighter note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY! She's two today so we'll be doing something special later.

Until next time.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Well, today was a very satisfying day! Monday is Co-op as you should know by now. Both worldview and biology were rather boring. During study hall, me and a few friends practiced our skits. Drama was interesting. Our teacher was very irritable and as everyone was supposed to have their lines memorized, I think we were all walking on eggshells. It was such a relief to get out of that room!

When I got home, I helped my mom prepare for dinner. We had some old family friends come over to eat with us. Chili on the menu! While we were waiting for them to arrive, I turned on Bohemian Rhapsody and my whole family was dancing around the kitchen, singing very loudly and very off key. Best time I've had with my family in a long time! Anyway, they are still here and I excused myself so I could come blog.

Oh! I must tell you about the ballet last night! It was absolutely lovely! The dancers were incredible! It makes me think back to the days when I dressed up in frilly dresses and danced around the living room. So I'm going to confess something to you, a secret dream. But you can't tell anyone! I have always wanted to be a ballerina. Ever since those days of dancing around the living room. But my mom never got me dance lessons and it's too late now. Oh well. I shall content myself with watching the professionals and dancing around my room late at night.

So I awoke to a wonderful surprise this morning! The ground was covered with snow! Just a light dusting but enough to make it difficult for my mom to drive. :) I was oh so tempted to start a snowball fight before Co-op but I didn't. Then I ate a candy cane this afternoon which is a Christmas tradition at my house. Candy canes have graced our tree for many a year. This year, they are gracing our kitchen counter so Lucy won't get to them.

Well, here's a song for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSQ3ZRmkmy4

Thank you and goodnight!

Obligations

Okay fine, I'll update you on the past couple days. You guys and your guilt trips! Gosh!

So, Friday was awesome! I went with my mom and Maisy to see The Nutcracker but it was a different version of the original ballet. In this version, Clara was a poor little girl who lives in a cardboard box in NYC. Another homeless guy (Droslemeyer) gives her a nutcracker he found in the trash and casts a magic spell over the girl. Then there was the traditional mouse fight but it was a mouse queen instead of a mouse king. The Nutcracker then comes alive and becomes Clara's father and the Sugarplum Fairy her mother. Worst of all, there was no Tchaikovsky!!! None whatsoever! So yeah it was a cute performance but not The Nutcracker for me.

After the performance, we went to lunch at Panera and then I came home and played video games with Gavin for a while (Lego Star Wars rocks!!). After that I went to work and then Angie came to pick me up to spend the night with her at the B&B. Miranda came with us and brought baby Brody. That kid is adorable! We all went to Chicago's Pizza and then to the B&B where we watched chick flicks and scrapbooked the night away! It was really late when I finally got to bed.

Saturday a bunch of the ladies from church joined us for the planned Craft Day. Joyce, Leslie, Jessica G. and I made baby blankets for the Crisis Pregnancy Center. We made six of them all together! Then I helped my mom with Christmas cards (ok, pictures) for a while before we left. When we got home, I got the Christmas mime video ready, played some more video games (our basement is freezing by the way) and went to bed.

Today was church as usual. Dad got us Chinese for lunch afterwards. Then my mom, Garrett and I went shopping. Both Garrett and I got our costumes for our SWIDN skits! That's a huge load off! I also got Lucy's birthday present. She's turning two on Tuesday! I'm so glad I'm not working so I can spend time with her! I got her a Cinderella doll, being the Cinderella lover she is. Anyway, now we're home and I'm leaving again in a little while to go with that Harris's to The Nutcracker (the professional one)! Becky is performing with her dance troupe in it and I'm so excited to go see! An evening spent watching lovely people dance to Tchaikovsky's best, what could be more wonderful?! Maybe undo some of the damage the last Nutcracker did. :)

Co-op tomorrow. Joy. But hopefully I'll have some time to blog tomorrow night. We'll see. Ok, here's one of my favorite songs for you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtKKOq8JqaE

So there's my post. Happy? Good. Until next time!

Just Because

Well today went exactly as I told you it would! I did school, went to work and came home. The only difference is that I'm still doing school and probably will be for a few hours yet. I'm not too fond of my Biology outlines. Anyway, the parents are gone to a movie (rare for them) so us kids are rocking out. AP Biology, Queen and Eggnog makes a good combination. :) Here's a song for you by one of my favorite artists, Chris Rice. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haV0hdZp9yU

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Work We Go

So it's Wednesday. Time to pick up the pace. Nose to the grindstone. I would love to smash the grindstone! How would you do that? Jackhammer maybe? Hmmm.... I must ponder this.

So today was filled with school and work. Pretty boring. My dad bought me ice cream and I sat around with the family watching While You Were Sleeping. I love that movie! It probably has one of the best proposals in the history of movies in it!! Anyway, tomorrow is going to be the same. School and work. Friday is crazy! I'm going to see the Nutcracker Ballet with my mom and Maisy, I work in the afternoon and then my friend Angie (who owns the B&B that I work at) is coming to pick me up and we're spending the night at the B&B! Saturday is our church's Ladies Craft Day all day. Then to Sunday. Phew!

Another of today's events, I was asked what I want for Christmas. It's harder to think of things than I thought it would be! I have a laptop which was on my list back in September. Check. I'm hopefully getting a car in January. Check. The only other thing I really want is an Evenstar necklace. You know, like Arwen's. But I can't ask my parents for it because they think those kinds of things are silly. So I came to the conclusion that I will be asking Santa for money, chocolate and socks this year. Joy.

Well, that's it for today. Au revoir!

Partay!!

Guess what! This is post number 100! *throws confetti and passes around party hats* Please, help yourself to the cake and ice cream. Now here's a couple songs to dance to because every good party has awesome music. Break it down now!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf45I1ZI__w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe9PSliDG4M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwg033Ze3Lk

Now an update on last nights post. First, I'm in a much better mood this morning. Coffee and a good debate about pirates vs. ninjas helps a lot, as well as good friends to give you a good slap and tell you that you're being stupid. lol This morning, my dad came in and we had a half an hour long conversation about college and stuff. He explained that he was mad at me last night because I made my mom mad. Makes sense. When mom ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. Anyway, he pretty much told me that I was awesome and he loved me and now my parents are all good with me.

So, for today I have school and then a dress fitting at two. Getting my red dress ready to dazzle! And no there is no glitter.

Well my party animals, I gotta go finish my worldview homework now. Keep dancin'!